Systems and Methods of Selecting a Cell for Transmitting Control Information

ABSTRACT

A wireless device receives, from a network node, an uplink grant for each of one or more cells, where at least one of the received uplink grants indicates a first number of downlink assignments by the network node to the wireless device. The wireless device selects, as a first cell, one of the one or more cells responsive to the at least one received uplink grant indicating the first number of downlink assignments. The wireless device then transmits Uplink Control Information (UCI) via the first cell. The UCI comprises a first number of ACK/NACK bits defined by the first number of downlink assignments.

This application claims priority to Provisional U.S. Patent Application62/620,288 filed 22 Jan. 2018, the disclosure of which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The solution presented herein relates generally to transmitting UplinkControl Information (UCI) from a wireless device to a network node, andmore particularly to transmitting UCI containing a defined number ofacknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) bits via a selectedcell.

BACKGROUND

Both New Radio (NR) and Long Term Evolution (LTE) support UpLink (UL)carrier aggregation and Uplink Control Information (UCI), e.g.,acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK), Channel StateInformation (CSI), Scheduling Requests (SRs), beam information, etc.).The UCI is not transmitted on the Physical Uplink Control Channel(PUCCH), but rather on the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) whenthe wireless device transmitting the UCI has a valid UL grant. However,when the wireless device has multiple UL Component Carriers (CCs)configured and valid UL grants for multiple ones of the UL cells, thewireless device has to determine which UL cell to use for transmittingthe UCI. Some conventional solutions do not provide sufficientflexibility and/or are prone to errors resulting in corrupted datatransmissions. Thus, there remains a need for improved UCI transmissionsolutions.

SUMMARY

The solution presented herein uses UL grants transmitted by the networknode to indicate to the wireless device how many downlink assignmentsthe network node makes for the wireless device, and thus indicates howmany ACK/NACK bits should be included in the UCI transmitted by thewireless device to the network node, and to help the wireless devicedetermine which cell should be used for the transmission of the UCI. Inso doing, the solution presented herein reduces errors and provides moreflexibility to the wireless network.

One exemplary embodiment comprises a method, performed by a wirelessdevice, of transmitting uplink control information. The method comprisesreceiving, from a network node, an uplink grant for each of one or morecells, wherein at least one of the received uplink grants indicates afirst number of downlink assignments by the network node to the wirelessdevice. The method further comprises selecting, as a first cell, one ofthe one or more cells responsive to the at least one received uplinkgrant indicating the first number of downlink assignments. The methodfurther comprises transmitting uplink control information via the firstcell. The uplink control information comprises a first number ofacknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) bits defined by thefirst number of downlink assignments.

Another exemplary embodiment comprises a wireless device comprisingprocessing circuitry and power supply circuitry. The processingcircuitry is configured to receive, from a network node, an uplink grantfor each of one or more cells, wherein at least one of the receiveduplink grants indicates a first number of downlink assignments by thenetwork node to the wireless device. The processing circuitry is furtherconfigured to select, as a first cell, one of the one or more cellsresponsive to the at least one received uplink grant indicating thefirst number of downlink assignments. The processing circuitry isfurther configured to transmit uplink control information via the firstcell. The uplink control information comprises a first number ofacknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) bits defined by thefirst number of downlink assignments. The power supply circuitry isconfigured to supply power to the wireless device. In some exemplaryembodiments, the wireless device comprises a user equipment.

Another exemplary embodiment comprises a wireless device comprising areceiving unit/circuit/module, a cell selecting unit/circuit/module, anda transmitting unit/circuit/module. The receiving unit/circuit/module isconfigured to receive, from a network node, an uplink grant for each ofone or more cells, wherein at least one of the received uplink grantsindicates a first number of downlink assignments by the network node tothe wireless device. The cell selecting unit/circuit/module isconfigured to select, as a first cell, one of the one or more cellsresponsive to the at least one received uplink grant indicating thefirst number of downlink assignments. The transmittingunit/circuit/module is configured to transmit uplink control informationvia the first cell. The uplink control information comprises a firstnumber of acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) bitsdefined by the first number of downlink assignments. In some exemplaryembodiments, the wireless device comprises a user equipment.

Another exemplary embodiment comprises a computer program product forcontrolling a wireless device. The computer program product comprisessoftware instructions which, when run on at least one processing circuitin the wireless device, causes the wireless device to receive, from anetwork node, an uplink grant for each of one or more cells, wherein atleast one of the received uplink grants indicates a first number ofdownlink assignments by the network node to the wireless device. Thesoftware instructions further cause the wireless device to select, as afirst cell, one of the one or more cells responsive to the at least onereceived uplink grant indicating the first number of downlinkassignments. The software instructions further cause the wireless deviceto transmit uplink control information via the first cell. The uplinkcontrol information comprises a first number of acknowledgement/negativeacknowledgement (ACK/NACK) bits defined by the first number of downlinkassignments. In some embodiments, a computer-readable medium comprisesthe computer program product. In some embodiments, the computer-readablemedium comprises a non-transitory computer-readable medium.

Another exemplary embodiment comprises a method, performed by a networknode in communication with a wireless device, of obtaining uplinkcontrol information. The method comprises generating an uplink grant foreach of one or more cells, wherein at least one of the generated uplinkgrants indicates a first number of downlink assignments by the networknode to the wireless device to indicate to the wireless device a firstnumber of acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) bits to betransmitted to the network node. The method further comprisestransmitting each of the generated uplink grants to the wireless device.The method further comprises receiving uplink control information via afirst cell selected by the wireless device responsive to the transmitteduplink grants. The first cell comprises one of the cells selected by thewireless device responsive to the at least one generated uplink grantsindicating the first number of downlink assignments, said uplink controlinformation comprising the first number of ACK/NACK bits.

Another exemplary embodiment comprises a network node comprisingprocessing circuitry and power supply circuitry. The processingcircuitry is configured to generate an uplink grant for each of one ormore cells, wherein at least one of the generated uplink grantsindicates a first number of downlink assignments by the network node tothe wireless device to indicate to the wireless device a first number ofacknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) bits to betransmitted to the network node. The processing circuitry is furtherconfigured to transmit each of the generated uplink grants to thewireless device. The processing circuitry is further configured toreceive uplink control information via a first cell selected by thewireless device responsive to the transmitted uplink grants. The firstcell comprises one of the cells selected by the wireless deviceresponsive to the at least one generated uplink grants indicating thefirst number of downlink assignments, said uplink control informationcomprising the first number of ACK/NACK bits. The power supply circuitryconfigured to supply power to the network node.

Another exemplary embodiment comprises a network node comprising a grantgenerating unit/circuit/module, a transmitting unit/circuit/module, anda receiving unit/circuit/module. The grant generatingunit/circuit/module is configured to generate an uplink grant for eachof one or more cells, wherein at least one of the generated uplinkgrants indicates a first number of downlink assignments by the networknode to the wireless device to indicate to the wireless device a firstnumber of acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) bits to betransmitted to the network node. The transmitting unit/circuit/module isconfigured to transmit each of the generated uplink grants to thewireless device. The receiving unit/circuit/module is configured toreceive uplink control information via a first cell selected by thewireless device responsive to the transmitted uplink grants. The firstcell comprises one of the cells selected by the wireless deviceresponsive to the at least one generated uplink grants indicating thefirst number of downlink assignments, said uplink control informationcomprising the first number of ACK/NACK bits.

Another exemplary embodiment comprises a computer program product forcontrolling a network node. The computer program product comprisessoftware instructions which, when run on at least one processing circuitin the network node, causes the network node to generate an uplink grantfor each of one or more cells, wherein at least one of the generateduplink grants indicates a first number of downlink assignments by thenetwork node to the wireless device to indicate to the wireless device afirst number of acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) bitsto be transmitted to the network node. The software instructions furthercause the network node to transmit each of the generated uplink grantsto the wireless device. The software instructions further cause thenetwork node to receive uplink control information via a first cellselected by the wireless device responsive to the transmitted uplinkgrants. The first cell comprises one of the cells selected by thewireless device responsive to the at least one generated uplink grantsindicating the first number of downlink assignments, said uplink controlinformation comprising the first number of ACK/NACK bits. In someexemplary embodiments, a computer-readable medium comprises the computerprogram product. In some exemplary embodiments, the computer-readablemedium comprises a non-transitory computer-readable medium.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A and 1B show exemplary wireless communication systems.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a wireless device according to oneexemplary embodiment.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a wireless device according to anotherexemplary embodiment.

FIGS. 4A-4J show exemplary methods performed by a wireless deviceaccording to exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of a network node according to oneexemplary embodiment.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of a network node according to anotherexemplary embodiment.

FIGS. 7A-7B show exemplary methods performed by a network node accordingto an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary wireless network applicable to the solutionpresented herein.

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary UE applicable to the solution presentedherein.

FIG. 10 shows an exemplary virtualization environment applicable to thesolution presented herein.

FIG. 11 shows an exemplary telecommunications network applicable to thesolution presented herein.

FIG. 12 shows an exemplary host computer applicable to the solutionpresented herein.

FIG. 13 shows an exemplary method implemented in a communication systemin accordance with embodiments of the solution presented herein.

FIG. 14 shows another exemplary method implemented in a communicationsystem in accordance with embodiments of the solution presented herein.

FIG. 15 shows another exemplary method implemented in a communicationsystem in accordance with embodiments of the solution presented herein.

FIG. 16 shows another exemplary method implemented in a communicationsystem in accordance with embodiments of the solution presented herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following describes the problem and the solution in terms of awireless communications between a network node and a wireless device.The wireless device receives DownLink (DL) communications from thenetwork node and transmits UpLink (UL) communications to the networknode. The network node receives UL communications from the wirelessdevice and transmits DL communications to the wireless device. Asdiscussed further below, the term wireless device may be usedinterchangeably herein with User Equipment (UE).

In LTE, UL UCI transmissions may operate according to the followingrule: If the UE does not receive an UL grant having the aperiodicChannel State Information (CSI) request field set, the UE transmits theUCI via a primary cell (PCell) when the UE has a valid UL grant for thePCell. If the UE does not have a valid grant for the PCell, the UEtransmits the UCI on one of the Secondary Cells (SCells), e.g., theSCell with lowest configured SCell index and for which UE has a valid ULgrant. When the UE is configured with multiple PUCCH groups, thePCell/SCell option described above is applied within a PUCCH group,where the primary PUCCH group contains the PCell and one or multipleSCells, and a secondary PUCCH contains a Primary Secondary Cell (PSCell)and one or multiple SCells (and in above behavior, the PCell is replacedby PSCell for a secondary PUCCH group). If the aperiodic CSI requestfield is set in one UL grant, the wireless device transmits the UCI viathe UL cell for which the grant is valid for the UE.

An UL grant in NR (at least the non-fallback Downlink ControlInformation (DCI)) contains an UL Downlink Assignment Indicator (ULDAI), which indicates all of the scheduled downlink data. The UL DAItherefore indicates the number of DL transmission assignments to the UE,and thus indicates the number of ACK/NACK bits (defined by the number ofDL transmission assignments) the UE should include in the transmittedUCI. In some embodiments, the UL DAI is a 2 bit field that is mapped tofour values: 1, 2, 3, and 4. In this exemplary embodiment, the UL DAIcannot express value 0, and thus cannot directly indicate that thenumber of ACK/NACK bits included in the UCI should be zero. If thenetwork node wants to indicate to the UE it should not include anyACK/NACK bits in the UCI, the network node may, for example, set the ULDAI to pre-agreed upon value, e.g., 4. In this example, the UE will haveto determine whether the pre-agreed upon value means the UE shouldinclude 4 ACK/NACK bits in the UCI or whether the UE should include zeroACK/NACK bits in the UCI. It is rather unlikely that the UE will missall DL assignments. Thus, if a UE received at least one DL assignment,the UE knows a DAI a value of 4 means the UE knows the received cannotmean 0, but rather means 4 (or 4+n*4 due to mod arithmetic). If a UEreceived more than one DL assignment with a DAI of 4, the UE mayinterpret the multiple DAIs with a value of 4 as really meaning 0, e.g.,no ACK/NACK bits should be included in the UCI. A misinterpretation mayoccur if the UE is scheduled four times in the DL, and UE misses allfour DL assignments. As noted above, however, this is rather unlikely.

As noted above, in LTE the UE transmits the UCI on the PCell if the UEhas a valid UL grant for the PCell, and transmits on the SCell with thelowest configured SCell index for which the UE has a valid UL grant andwhen the UE does not have a valid UL grant for the PCell. The LTEsolution, however, provides limited flexibility on which UL cell totransmit the UCI. For example, as soon as the PCell (or PSCell) isscheduled, the UE transmits the UCI on PCell (or PSCell), or in absenceof an UL grant for a PCell (or PSCell), the UE transmits the UCI on theSCell with the lowest SCell index within the PUCCH group.

In addition the following error case may occur. If the UE has a valid ULgrant for the PCell and at least one more UL cell, but misses the ULgrant for the PCell, the UE will transmit the UCI via the SCell withlowest SCell index, but the network node expects the UCI to betransmitted via the PCell. The consequence of this error is corrupteddata transmissions on the lowest-numbered SCell and no datatransmissions on the PCell (missed grant), as well as a failure by thenetwork node to receive the UCI.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure and their embodiments mayprovide solutions to these or other challenges.

According to embodiments of the solution presented herein, the UEtransmits the UCI via the cell for which the UL grant indicates an ULDAI greater than or equal to 1. If an UL grant for another UL cell hasthe aperiodic CSI request field set, UE may:

-   -   1) also send aperiodic CSI via the cell which UL grant has an UL        DAI greater than or equal to 1; or    -   2) transmit UCI via the cell indicated by the UL grant with the        aperiodic CSI request field set; or    -   3) send the ACK/NACK bits via the cell indicated by the UL grant        with an UL DAI greater than or equal to 1 and the CSI via the        cell which UL grant has the aperiodic CSI request field set.

The above exemplary solutions assume that the UE has ACK/NACK bits toreport; if the UE does not have any ACK/NACK bits to report (i.e., theUL grants for multiple cells have a DAI indicating 4, which the UEtranslates as 0), an alternative solution, e.g. the LTE solution, may beused.

According to embodiments presented herein, the UE uses the cell forwhich the UL grant indicates an UL DAI greater than or equal to 1 fortransmitting the UCI on the PUSCH.

Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technicaladvantage(s). For example, certain embodiments may provide moreflexibility to select the UL cell that should be used to transmit theUCI. Further, certain embodiments avoid the error case outlined above.

In view of the embodiments above, the solution presented hereingenerally includes the following embodiments, e.g., which may addressone or more of the issues disclosed herein. In one embodiment, FIGS. 1Aand 1B illustrate embodiments of systems 100 a,b for selecting a cellfor transmitting control information from a wireless device 107 to anetwork node 101 in accordance with various aspects as described herein.The systems 100 a,b may include the network node 101 (e.g., basestation, gNB) and the wireless device 107 (e.g., UE). In one embodiment,the network node 101 may be associated with one or more cells, e.g.,cell 103. In one example, a cell is one or more carriers associated witha sector of a base station. In another example, a cell is one or morecarriers associated with one of a plurality of transmission/receptionpoints in a sector of a base station. In yet another example, a cell isone or more carriers on which a same cell-specific reference signal istransmitted. In still yet another example, a cell is one or morecarriers on which a same cell identifier (e.g., physical layer cell ID)is transmitted. In FIG. 1A, in one embodiment, the network node 101transmits, to the wireless device 107, an uplink grant 111 a thatindicates a number of downlink assignments, and thus indicates a numberof acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits 112 a, defined bythe number of assigned downlink assignments, that the wireless device107 is to include on an uplink channel (e.g., PUSCH) associated with theuplink grant 111 a. The wireless device 107 then receives that uplinkgrant 111 a, and then may determine whether the number of acknowledgmentor negative acknowledgement bits 112 a is at least one. In response todetermining that the number of acknowledgement or negativeacknowledgement bits 112 a is at least one bit, the wireless device 107transmits, on the uplink channel, to a cell 113 a indicated by thatuplink grant 111 a, uplink control information 121 a having theindicated number of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits 122a. When the number of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bitsto be included is zero, the wireless device 107 transmits the uplinkcontrol information without any acknowledgement or negativeacknowledgement bits. The network node 101 then receives the uplinkcontrol information 121 a including the number of acknowledgement ornegative acknowledgement bits 122 a on that uplink channel on the cell113 a indicated by the uplink grant 111 a.

In FIG. 1B, in one embodiment, the network node 101 transmits, to thewireless device 107, a plurality of uplink grants 111 b, 115 b. Theuplink grant 111 b indicates that the number of acknowledgement ornegative acknowledgement bits 112 b is at least one bit, associated witha downlink channel, that the wireless device 107 is to include on anuplink channel associated with the uplink grant 111 b. Further, theuplink grant 115 b indicates that the number of acknowledgement ornegative acknowledgement bits 116 b indicates an invalid number of bitsor that the associated uplink control information does not include theacknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits. The wireless device107 then receives those uplink grants 111 b, 115 b and then may select,from cells 113 b, 117 b indicated by the respective uplink grants 111 b,115 b, the cell 113 b indicated by the uplink grant 111 b that indicatesthat the number of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits 113b is at least one bit, to transmit the uplink control information 121 b.The wireless device 107 then transmits, on the uplink channel, to theselected cell 113 b, uplink control information 121 b having theacknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits 122 b. The network node101 then receives the uplink control information 121 b having theacknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits 122 b on that uplinkchannel on the cell 113 b indicated by the uplink grant 111 b.

In FIG. 1B, in another embodiment, the network node 101 transmits, tothe wireless device 107, a plurality of uplink grants, including atleast two uplink grants 111 b, 115 b that respectively indicate that thenumber of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits 112 b, 116 bis at least one bit. The wireless device 107 then receives those uplinkgrants and then may select, from among cells 113 b, 117 b indicated bythose at least two uplink grants 111 b, 115 b, a cell that has a lowestor highest cell index or a cell that has a smallest or largest resourceallocation for the uplink channel, to transmit the uplink controlinformation 121 b having the acknowledgement or negative acknowledgementbits 122 b. The wireless device 107 then transmits, on the uplinkchannel, on the selected cell, uplink control information 121 b havingthe acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits 122 b. The networknode 101 then receives the uplink control information 121 b having theacknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits 122 b on that uplinkchannel on the selected cell.

In FIGS. 1A and 1B, the network node 101 may be configured to supportone or more communication systems such as LTE, UMTS, GSM, NB-IoT, 5G NewRadio (NR), the like, or any combination thereof. Further, the networknode 101 may be a base station, an access point, or the like. Also, thenetwork node 101 may serve wireless device 107. The wireless device 107may be configured to support one or more communication systems such asLTE, UMTS, GSM, NB-IoT, 5G NR, the like, or any combination thereof.

Note that the apparatuses described above may perform the methods hereinand any other processing by implementing any functional means, modules,units, or circuitry. In one embodiment, for example, the apparatusescomprise respective circuits or circuitry configured to perform thesteps shown in the method figures. The circuits or circuitry in thisregard may comprise circuits dedicated to performing certain functionalprocessing and/or one or more microprocessors in conjunction withmemory. For instance, the circuitry may include one or moremicroprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware,which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), special-purposedigital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configuredto execute program code stored in memory, which may include one orseveral types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-accessmemory, cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices,etc. Program code stored in memory may include program instructions forexecuting one or more telecommunications and/or data communicationsprotocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of thetechniques described herein, in several embodiments. In embodiments thatemploy memory, the memory stores program code that, when executed by theone or more processors, carries out the techniques described herein.

For example, FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of a wireless device 200in accordance with various embodiments described herein. As shown, thewireless device 200 includes processing circuitry 210 and communicationcircuitry 220. The communication circuitry 220 (e.g., radio circuitry)is configured to transmit and/or receive information to and/or from oneor more other nodes, e.g., via any communication technology. Suchcommunication may occur via one or more antennas that are eitherinternal or external to the wireless device 200. The processingcircuitry 210 is configured to perform processing described above, suchas by executing instructions stored in memory 230. The processingcircuitry 210 in this regard may implement certain functional means,units, or modules.

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic block diagram of one embodiment of awireless device 300 in a wireless network in accordance variousembodiments described herein (for example, the wireless network shown inFIGS. 1A and 1B, and 8). As shown, the wireless device 300 implementsvarious functional means, units, circuits, or modules, e.g., via theprocessing circuitry 210 in FIG. 2 and/or via software code. In oneembodiment, these functional means, units, circuits, or modules, e.g.,for implementing the method(s) herein, may include for instance: areceiving unit/circuit/module 311 configured to receive, from a networknode, an uplink grant for each of one or more cells, where at least oneof the received uplink grants indicates a first number of downlinkassignments by the network node to the wireless device; a cell selectingunit/circuit/module 313 configured to select, as a first cell, one ofthe one or more cells responsive to the at least one received uplinkgrants indicating the first number of downlink assignments; and atransmitting unit/circuit/module 317 configured to transmit uplinkcontrol information via the first cell, where the uplink controlinformation comprises a first number of ACK/NACK bits defined by thefirst number of downlink assignments. Wireless device 300 may alsoinclude an explicit ACK/NAK bits determining unit/circuit/module 315 fordetermining the number of ACK/NACK bits from the received uplinkgrant(s).

FIGS. 4A-4I illustrate embodiments of methods 400 a-i performed by awireless device for selecting a cell for transmitting uplink controlinformation in accordance with various embodiments described herein. Itwill be appreciated that because the number of downlink assignmentsindicates the number of ACK/NACK bits for the wireless device totransmit, the embodiments described herein interchangeably describe thesolution in terms of UL grant(s) that indicate the number of downlinkassignments and in terms of UL grant(s) that indicate the numberACK/NACK bits the wireless device should transmit to the network node.

In FIG. 4A, the method 400 a may start, for example, at block 401 awhere it includes receiving, from a network node, an uplink grant thatindicates a number of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits,associated with one or more downlink assignments, that the wirelessdevice is to include on an uplink channel associated with that uplinkgrant. At block 403 a, the method 400 a may include determining whetherthe number of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits is atleast one bit. In response to determining that the number ofacknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits is at least one bit,the method 400 a transmits, on the uplink channel, to a cell indicatedby that uplink grant, uplink control information having theacknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits, as represented byblock 405 a.

In FIG. 4B, the method 400 b may start, for example, at block 401 bwhere it includes receiving, from a network node, an uplink grant foreach for one or more cells, where at least one of the received uplinkgrants indicates a first number of downlink assignments by the networknode to the wireless device. At block 403 b, the method 400 b includesselecting, as a first cell, one of the one or more cells responsive tothe at least one received uplink grant indicating the first number ofdownlink assignments. Further, at block 405 b, the method 400 b includestransmitting uplink control information via the first cell, where theuplink control information comprises a first number of ACK/NACK bitsdefined by the first number of downlink assignments.

In FIG. 4C, the method 400 c may start, for example, at block 401 cwhere it includes receiving, from a network node, a plurality of uplinkgrants, including at least two uplink grants that indicate that a numberof acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits is at least one bit,associated with one or more downlink assignments, that the wirelessdevice is to include on an uplink channel associated with that uplinkgrant. At block 403 c, the method 400 c includes selecting, from amongcells indicated by those at least two uplink grants, a cell that has alowest or highest cell index, with that cell being selected to transmitthe uplink control information having the acknowledgement or negativeacknowledgement bits. Further, the method 400 c includes transmitting,on the uplink channel on the selected cell, uplink control informationhaving the acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits, asrepresented by block 405 c.

In FIG. 4D, the method 400 d may start, for example, at block 401 dwhere it includes receiving, from a network node, a plurality of uplinkgrants, including at least two uplink grants that indicate that a numberof acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits is at least one bit,associated with one or more downlink assignments, that the wirelessdevice is to include on an uplink channel associated with that uplinkgrant. At block 403 d, the method 400 d includes selecting, from amongcells indicated by those at least two uplink grants, a cell that has asmallest or largest resource allocation for the uplink channel, withthat cell being selected to transmit the uplink control informationhaving the acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits. Further,the method 400 d includes transmitting, on the uplink channel to theselected cell, uplink control information having the acknowledgement ornegative acknowledgement bits, as represented by block 405 d.

In FIG. 4E, the method 400 e may start, for example, at block 401 ewhere it includes receiving, from a network node, a plurality of uplinkgrants, including an uplink grant that indicates that a number ofacknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits is at least one bit,associated with one or more downlink assignments, that the wirelessdevice is to include on an uplink channel associated with that uplinkgrant. At block 403 e, the method 400 e may include determining whetherone of the plurality of uplink grants indicates an aperiodic channelstate information request. In response to determining that one of theplurality of uplink grants indicates an aperiodic channel stateinformation request, the method 400 e includes transmitting, on anuplink channel associated with the uplink grant that indicates theaperiodic channel state information request, on a cell indicated by thatuplink grant, the uplink control information having the acknowledgementor negative acknowledgement bits, as represented by block 405 e.

In FIG. 4F, the method 400 f may start, for example, at block 401 fwhere it includes receiving, from a network node, a plurality of uplinkgrants, including an uplink grant that indicates that a number ofacknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits is at least one bit,associated with one or more downlink assignments, that the wirelessdevice is to include on an uplink channel associated with that uplinkgrant. At block 403 f, the method 400 f may include determining whetherone of the plurality of uplink grants indicates an aperiodic channelstate information request. In response to determining that one of theplurality of uplink grants indicates an aperiodic channel stateinformation request, the method 400 f includes transmitting, on theuplink channel associated with the uplink grant that indicates that thenumber of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits is at leastone, via the cell indicated by that uplink grant, the uplink controlinformation having the acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bitsand the aperiodic channel state information, as represented by block 407f.

In FIG. 4G, the method 400 g may start, for example, at block 401 gwhere it includes receiving, from a network node, a plurality of uplinkgrants, including an uplink grant that indicates that a number ofacknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits is at least one bit,associated with one or more downlink assignments, that the wirelessdevice is to include on an uplink channel associated with that uplinkgrant. At block 403 g, the method 400 g may include determining whethera scheduled transmission of periodic or semi-persistent channel stateinformation overlaps in time with a schedule transmission of the uplinkcontrol information having the acknowledgement or negativeacknowledgement bits. In one example, the scheduled transmission of theperiodic or semi-persistent channel state information overlaps in a sametransmission time interval or slot with the scheduled transmission ofthe uplink control information having the acknowledgement or negativeacknowledgement bits. In response to determining that the scheduledtransmission of the periodic or semi-persistent channel stateinformation overlaps in time with the scheduled transmission of theuplink control information having the acknowledgement or negativeacknowledgement bits, the method 400 g includes transmitting, to thecell indicated by that uplink grant, that channel state information, asrepresented by block 407 g.

In FIG. 4H, the method 400 h may start, for example, at block 401 hwhere it includes receiving, from a network node, an uplink grant thatindicates a number of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits,associated with one or more downlink assignments, that the wirelessdevice is to include on an uplink channel associated with that uplinkgrant. At block 403 h, the method 400 h may include determining whetherthe number of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits is atleast one bit. In response to determining that the number ofacknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits indicates that theuplink control information does not include the acknowledgement ornegative acknowledgement bits, the method 400 h includes transmitting,on the uplink channel, to a primary cell of the wireless device that isgranted to the wireless device, uplink control information without theacknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits, as represented byblock 405 h.

In FIG. 4I, the method 400 i may start, for example, at block 401 iwhere it includes receiving, from a network node, an uplink grant thatindicates a number of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits,associated with one or more downlink assignments, that the wirelessdevice is to include on an uplink channel associated with that uplinkgrant. At block 403 i, the method 400 i may include determining whetherthe number of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits is atleast one bit. In response to determining that the number ofacknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits indicates that theuplink control information does not include the acknowledgement ornegative acknowledgement bits, the method 400 i includes transmitting,on the uplink channel, to one of one or more secondary cells of thewireless device, with each secondary cell being granted to the wirelessdevice, that has a lowest or highest cell index, uplink controlinformation without the acknowledgement or negative acknowledgementbits, as represented by block 405 i.

In FIG. 4J, the method 400 j may start, for instance, at block 401 jwhere it includes receiving, from a network node, a plurality of uplinkgrants, including an uplink grant that indicates that a number ofacknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits is at least one bit,associated with one or more downlink channels, that the wireless deviceis to include on an uplink channel associated with that uplink grant. Atblock 403 j, the method 400 j includes selecting, from among cellsindicated by the plurality of uplink grants, a cell indicated by theuplink grant that indicates that the number of acknowledgement ornegative acknowledgement bits is at least one bit, to transmit theuplink control information. Further, the method 400 j transmits, on theuplink channel to the cell indicated by the selected uplink grant,uplink control information having the acknowledgement or negativeacknowledgement bits, as represented by block 405 j.

FIG. 5 illustrates a network node 500 as implemented in accordance withvarious embodiments described herein. As shown, the network node 500includes processing circuitry 510 and communication circuitry 520. Thecommunication circuitry 520 is configured to transmit and/or receiveinformation to and/or from one or more other nodes, e.g., via anycommunication technology. The processing circuitry 510 is configured toperform processing described above, such as by executing instructionsstored in memory 530. The processing circuitry 510 in this regard mayimplement certain functional means, units, circuits, or modules.

FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic block diagram of one exemplary embodimentof a network node 600 in a wireless network in accordance variousembodiments described herein (for example, the network node shown inFIGS. 1A, 1B, and 8). As shown, network node 600 implements variousfunctional means, units, circuits, or modules, e.g., via the processingcircuitry 510 in FIG. 5 and/or via software code. In one exemplaryembodiment, these functional means, units, circuits, or modules, e.g.,for implementing the method(s) herein, may include: a transmittingunit/circuit/module 611, a receiving unit/circuit/module 613, and agrant generating unit/circuit/module 615. The grant generatingunit/circuit/module 615 is configured to generate an UL grant for eachof one or more cells, where at least one of the generated UL grantsindicates a first number of DL assignments by the network node to thewireless device to indicate to the wireless device a first number ofACK/NACK bits to be transmitted to the network node. The transmittingunit/circuit/module 611 is configured to transmit each of the generatedUL grants to a wireless device. The receiving unit/circuit/module 615 isconfigured to receive UL control information via a first cell selectedby the wireless device responsive to the transmitted UL grants, wherethe first cell comprises one of the cells selected responsive to the atleast one generated UL grants indicating the first number of downlinkassignments, and where the UL control information comprises the firstnumber of ACK/NACK bits.

FIG. 7A illustrates one exemplary method 700 performed by a network nodefor selecting a cell for transmission of uplink control information by awireless device in accordance with various embodiments described herein.In FIG. 7A, the method 700 may start, for example, at block 701 wherethe network node generates an UL grant for each of one or more cells,where at least one of the generated UL grants indicates a first numberof DL assignments by the network node to the wireless device to indicateto the wireless device a first number of ACK/NACK bits to be transmittedto the network node. The network node, at block 703, transmits each ofthe UL grants to the wireless device. Further, the network node, atblock 705 receives UL control information via a first cell selected bythe wireless device responsive to the transmitted UL grants, where thefirst cell comprises one of the cells selected responsive to the atleast one generated UL grants indicating the first number of downlinkassignments, and where the UL control information comprises the firstnumber of ACK/NACK bits.

FIG. 7B illustrates one embodiment of a method 710 performed by anetwork node for selecting a cell for transmitting control informationin accordance with various embodiments described herein. In FIG. 7B, themethod 710 may start, for instance, at block 711 where it includestransmitting, to a wireless device, an uplink grant that indicates thata number of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits is at leastone bit, associated with one or more downlink channels, that thewireless device is to include on an uplink channel associated with theuplink grant. In response, the method 710 includes receiving, on thatuplink channel on a cell indicated by that uplink grant, from thewireless device, uplink control information having the acknowledgementor negative acknowledgement bits, as represented by block 713.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that embodiments hereinfurther include corresponding computer programs. A computer programcomprises instructions which, when executed on at least one processor ofan apparatus, cause the apparatus to carry out any of the respectiveprocessing described above. A computer program in this regard maycomprise one or more code modules corresponding to the means or unitsdescribed above.

Embodiments further include a carrier containing such a computerprogram. This carrier may comprise one of an electronic signal, opticalsignal, radio signal, or computer readable storage medium.

In this regard, embodiments herein also include a computer programproduct stored on a non-transitory computer readable (storage orrecording) medium and comprising instructions that, when executed by aprocessor of an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform as describedabove.

Embodiments further include a computer program product comprisingprogram code portions for performing the steps of any of the embodimentsherein when the computer program product is executed by a computingdevice. This computer program product may be stored on a computerreadable recording medium.

Additional embodiments will now be described. At least some of theseembodiments may be described as applicable in certain contexts and/orwireless network types for illustrative purposes, but the embodimentsare similarly applicable in other contexts and/or wireless network typesnot explicitly described.

If a UE has multiple UL grants and needs to report the UCI on the PUSCH,the UE selects the UL cell for which the UL grant (e.g., with UL DAIgreater than or equal to 1) indicates that UE should include ACK/NACKbits. If the UE transmits at the same time periodic or semi-persistentCSI (which should have been transmitted on the same PUCCH as ACK/NACK),the CSI may also be transmitted via the same UL cell.

If one of the UL grants has the aperiodic CSI request field set, threepossible behaviors can be distinguished:

-   -   Grant with aperiodic CSI request field set overrides the PUSCH        grant with UL DAI greater than or equal to 1, i.e., ACK/NACK and        CSI is reported via the UL cell indicated by the UL grant with        aperiodic CSI request field set.    -   Grant with UL DAI greater than or equal to 1 overrides the UL        grant with aperiodic CSI request field set, i.e., ACK/NACK and        CSI are reported via the UL cell indicated by the UL grant with        UL DAI greater than or equal to 1.    -   ACK/NACK is transmitted via the UL cell indicated by the UL        grant with UL DAI greater than or equal to 1 and aperiodic CSI        is transmitted via the UL cell with aperiodic CSI request field        set.

The case that multiple UL grants indicate UL DAI greater than or equalto 1 (with the meaning UL DAI greater than or equal to 1) is either anerror case (bad NW implementation to schedule UL grants like that) orallowed, in the latter case the UE behavior would have to de defined.One possibility is to use the UL carrier with lowest/highest carrierindex among those carriers which grant indicate UL DAI greater than orequal to 1. The other case would be to UL carrier which has the largestPUSCH allocations among those carriers which grant indicate UL DAIgreater than or equal to 1 (smallest PUSCH is another, less preferredchoice).

If the behavior for an UL grant with DAI=4 can also mean 0 is agreed,then if a UE has multiple UL grants and all of them indicate DAI=4, theUE does not know from the UL grants including the DAI alone if one ofthe UL grants actually mean 4 and all other 0 or if all mean 0. As it isunlikely that a UE has missed 4 (or 4+n*4) DL assignments, it is verylikely that UE knows if one DAI means 4 while the other ones mean 0.Nevertheless, the UE does not know which UL DAI means 4. Therefore, theabove rule cannot be applied if the UL DAI should indicate 4 (with themeaning 4 or 4+n*4). In case all UL DAI indicate 4, the UE uses anotherrule to determine the UL cell that should be used to transmit UCI. Oneexample would be to the use the LTE rule based on PCell/SCell indexinstead.

Although the subject matter described herein may be implemented in anyappropriate type of system using any suitable components, theembodiments disclosed herein are described in relation to a wirelessnetwork, such as the example wireless network illustrated in FIG. 8. Forsimplicity, the wireless network of FIG. 8 only depicts network 806,network nodes 860 and 860 b, and WDs 810, 810 b, and 810 c. In practice,a wireless network may further include any additional elements suitableto support communication between wireless devices or between a wirelessdevice and another communication device, such as a landline telephone, aservice provider, or any other network node or end device. Of theillustrated components, network node 860 and wireless device (WD) 810are depicted with additional detail. The wireless network may providecommunication and other types of services to one or more wirelessdevices to facilitate the wireless devices' access to and/or use of theservices provided by, or via, the wireless network.

The wireless network may comprise and/or interface with any type ofcommunication, telecommunication, data, cellular, and/or radio networkor other similar type of system. In some embodiments, the wirelessnetwork may be configured to operate according to specific standards orother types of predefined rules or procedures. Thus, particularembodiments of the wireless network may implement communicationstandards, such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM),Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution(LTE), Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), and/or other suitable 2G,3G, 4G, or 5G standards; wireless local area network (WLAN) standards,such as the IEEE 802.11 standards; and/or any other appropriate wirelesscommunication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability forMicrowave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave and/or ZigBee standards.

Network 806 may comprise one or more backhaul networks, core networks,IP networks, public switched telephone networks (PSTNs), packet datanetworks, optical networks, wide-area networks (WANs), local areanetworks (LANs), wireless local area networks (WLANs), wired networks,wireless networks, metropolitan area networks, and other networks toenable communication between devices.

Network node 860 and WD 810 comprise various components described inmore detail below. These components work together in order to providenetwork node and/or wireless device functionality, such as providingwireless connections in a wireless network. In different embodiments,the wireless network may comprise any number of wired or wirelessnetworks, network nodes, base stations, controllers, wireless devices,relay stations, and/or any other components or systems that mayfacilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signalswhether via wired or wireless connections.

As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured,arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with awireless device and/or with other network nodes or equipment in thewireless network to enable and/or provide wireless access to thewireless device and/or to perform other functions (e.g., administration)in the wireless network. Examples of network nodes include, but are notlimited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points) and basestations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs(eNBs), and NR NodeBs (gNBs)). Base stations may be categorized based onthe amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, theirtransmit power level) and may then also be referred to as femto basestations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro basestations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor nodecontrolling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (orall) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralizeddigital units and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to asRemote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not beintegrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of adistributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in adistributed antenna system (DAS). Yet further examples of network nodesinclude multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, networkcontrollers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base stationcontrollers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmissionpoints, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities(MCEs), core network nodes (e.g., MSCs, MMEs), O&M nodes, OSS nodes, SONnodes, positioning nodes (e.g., E-SMLCs), and/or MDTs. As anotherexample, a network node may be a virtual network node as described inmore detail below. More generally, however, network nodes may representany suitable device (or group of devices) capable, configured, arranged,and/or operable to enable and/or provide a wireless device with accessto the wireless network or to provide some service to a wireless devicethat has accessed the wireless network.

In FIG. 8, network node 860 includes processing circuitry 870, devicereadable medium 880, interface 890, auxiliary equipment 884, powersource 886, power circuitry 887, and antenna 862. Although network node860 illustrated in the example wireless network of FIG. 8 may representa device that includes the illustrated combination of hardwarecomponents, other embodiments may comprise network nodes with differentcombinations of components. It is to be understood that a network nodecomprises any suitable combination of hardware and/or software needed toperform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein.Moreover, while the components of network node 860 are depicted assingle boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multipleboxes, in practice, a network node may comprise multiple differentphysical components that make up a single illustrated component (e.g.,device readable medium 880 may comprise multiple separate hard drives aswell as multiple RAM modules).

Similarly, network node 860 may be composed of multiple physicallyseparate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or aBTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their ownrespective components. In certain scenarios in which network node 860comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components),one or more of the separate components may be shared among severalnetwork nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeB's.In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair may in some instancesbe considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments,network node 860 may be configured to support multiple radio accesstechnologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may beduplicated (e.g., separate device readable medium 880 for the differentRATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., the same antenna 862 maybe shared by the RATs). Network node 860 may also include multiple setsof the various illustrated components for different wirelesstechnologies integrated into network node 860, such as, for example,GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, or Bluetooth wireless technologies. Thesewireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chipor set of chips and other components within network node 860.

Processing circuitry 870 is configured to perform any determining,calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations)described herein as being provided by a network node. These operationsperformed by processing circuitry 870 may include processing informationobtained by processing circuitry 870 by, for example, converting theobtained information into other information, comparing the obtainedinformation or converted information to information stored in thenetwork node, and/or performing one or more operations based on theobtained information or converted information, and as a result of saidprocessing making a determination.

Processing circuitry 870 may comprise a combination of one or more of amicroprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit,digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, fieldprogrammable gate array, or any other suitable computing device,resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logicoperable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other networknode 860 components, such as device readable medium 880, network node860 functionality. For example, processing circuitry 870 may executeinstructions stored in device readable medium 880 or in memory withinprocessing circuitry 870. Such functionality may include providing anyof the various wireless features, functions, or benefits discussedherein. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 870 may include asystem on a chip (SOC).

In some embodiments, processing circuitry 870 may include one or more ofradio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 872 and baseband processingcircuitry 874. In some embodiments, radio frequency (RF) transceivercircuitry 872 and baseband processing circuitry 874 may be on separatechips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units anddigital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceivercircuitry 872 and baseband processing circuitry 874 may be on the samechip or set of chips, boards, or units

In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality describedherein as being provided by a network node, base station, eNB or othersuch network device may be performed by processing circuitry 870executing instructions stored on device readable medium 880 or memorywithin processing circuitry 870. In alternative embodiments, some or allof the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry 870 withoutexecuting instructions stored on a separate or discrete device readablemedium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those embodiments,whether executing instructions stored on a device readable storagemedium or not, processing circuitry 870 can be configured to perform thedescribed functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality arenot limited to processing circuitry 870 alone or to other components ofnetwork node 860, but are enjoyed by network node 860 as a whole, and/orby end users and the wireless network generally.

Device readable medium 880 may comprise any form of volatile ornon-volatile computer readable memory including, without limitation,persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory,magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-onlymemory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removablestorage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or aDigital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile,non-transitory device readable and/or computer-executable memory devicesthat store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used byprocessing circuitry 870. Device readable medium 880 may store anysuitable instructions, data or information, including a computerprogram, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules,code, tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executedby processing circuitry 870 and, utilized by network node 860. Devicereadable medium 880 may be used to store any calculations made byprocessing circuitry 870 and/or any data received via interface 890. Insome embodiments, processing circuitry 870 and device readable medium880 may be considered to be integrated.

Interface 890 is used in the wired or wireless communication ofsignalling and/or data between network node 860, network 806, and/or WDs810. As illustrated, interface 890 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 894 tosend and receive data, for example to and from network 806 over a wiredconnection. Interface 890 also includes radio front end circuitry 892that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, antenna862. Radio front end circuitry 892 comprises filters 898 and amplifiers896. Radio front end circuitry 892 may be connected to antenna 862 andprocessing circuitry 870. Radio front end circuitry may be configured tocondition signals communicated between antenna 862 and processingcircuitry 870. Radio front end circuitry 892 may receive digital datathat is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wirelessconnection. Radio front end circuitry 892 may convert the digital datainto a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidthparameters using a combination of filters 898 and/or amplifiers 896. Theradio signal may then be transmitted via antenna 862. Similarly, whenreceiving data, antenna 862 may collect radio signals which are thenconverted into digital data by radio front end circuitry 892. Thedigital data may be passed to processing circuitry 870. In otherembodiments, the interface may comprise different components and/ordifferent combinations of components.

In certain alternative embodiments, network node 860 may not includeseparate radio front end circuitry 892; instead, processing circuitry870 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected toantenna 862 without separate radio front end circuitry 892. Similarly,in some embodiments, all or some of RF transceiver circuitry 872 may beconsidered a part of interface 890. In still other embodiments,interface 890 may include one or more ports or terminals 894, radiofront end circuitry 892, and RF transceiver circuitry 872, as part of aradio unit (not shown), and interface 890 may communicate with basebandprocessing circuitry 874, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

Antenna 862 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays,configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. Antenna 862 may becoupled to radio front end circuitry 890 and may be any type of antennacapable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. Insome embodiments, antenna 862 may comprise one or more omni-directional,sector or panel antennas operable to transmit/receive radio signalsbetween, for example, 2 GHz and 66 GHz. An omni-directional antenna maybe used to transmit/receive radio signals in any direction, a sectorantenna may be used to transmit/receive radio signals from deviceswithin a particular area, and a panel antenna may be a line of sightantenna used to transmit/receive radio signals in a relatively straightline. In some instances, the use of more than one antenna may bereferred to as MIMO. In certain embodiments, antenna 862 may be separatefrom network node 860 and may be connectable to network node 860 throughan interface or port.

Antenna 862, interface 890, and/or processing circuitry 870 may beconfigured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtainingoperations described herein as being performed by a network node. Anyinformation, data and/or signals may be received from a wireless device,another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly,antenna 862, interface 890, and/or processing circuitry 870 may beconfigured to perform any transmitting operations described herein asbeing performed by a network node. Any information, data and/or signalsmay be transmitted to a wireless device, another network node and/or anyother network equipment.

Power circuitry 887 may comprise, or be coupled to, power managementcircuitry and is configured to supply the components of network node 860with power for performing the functionality described herein. Powercircuitry 887 may receive power from power source 886. Power source 886and/or power circuitry 887 may be configured to provide power to thevarious components of network node 860 in a form suitable for therespective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed foreach respective component). Power source 886 may either be included in,or external to, power circuitry 887 and/or network node 860. Forexample, network node 860 may be connectable to an external power source(e.g., an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface suchas an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies powerto power circuitry 887. As a further example, power source 886 maycomprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery packwhich is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry 887. Thebattery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.Other types of power sources, such as photovoltaic devices, may also beused.

Alternative embodiments of network node 860 may include additionalcomponents beyond those shown in FIG. 8 that may be responsible forproviding certain aspects of the network node's functionality, includingany of the functionality described herein and/or any functionalitynecessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example,network node 860 may include user interface equipment to allow input ofinformation into network node 860 and to allow output of informationfrom network node 860. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic,maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for network node860.

As used herein, wireless device (WD) refers to a device capable,configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly withnetwork nodes and/or other wireless devices. Unless otherwise noted, theterm WD may be used interchangeably herein with user equipment (UE).Communicating wirelessly may involve transmitting and/or receivingwireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infraredwaves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying informationthrough air. In some embodiments, a WD may be configured to transmitand/or receive information without direct human interaction. Forinstance, a WD may be designed to transmit information to a network on apredetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event,or in response to requests from the network. Examples of a WD include,but are not limited to, a smart phone, a mobile phone, a cell phone, avoice over IP (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a desktopcomputer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless cameras, agaming console or device, a music storage device, a playback appliance,a wearable terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, atablet, a laptop, a laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), a laptop-mountedequipment (LME), a smart device, a wireless customer-premise equipment(CPE), a vehicle-mounted wireless terminal device, etc. A WD may supportdevice-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPPstandard for sidelink communication, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V),vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) and may inthis case be referred to as a D2D communication device. As yet anotherspecific example, in an Internet of Things (IoT) scenario, a WD mayrepresent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/ormeasurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/ormeasurements to another WD and/or a network node. The WD may in thiscase be a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, which may in a 3GPP contextbe referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the WD maybe a UE implementing the 3GPP narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT)standard. Particular examples of such machines or devices are sensors,metering devices such as power meters, industrial machinery, or home orpersonal appliances (e.g. refrigerators, televisions, etc.) personalwearables (e.g., watches, fitness trackers, etc.). In other scenarios, aWD may represent a vehicle or other equipment that is capable ofmonitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functionsassociated with its operation. A WD as described above may represent theendpoint of a wireless connection, in which case the device may bereferred to as a wireless terminal. Furthermore, a WD as described abovemay be mobile, in which case it may also be referred to as a mobiledevice or a mobile terminal.

As illustrated, wireless device 810 includes antenna 811, interface 814,processing circuitry 820, device readable medium 830, user interfaceequipment 832, auxiliary equipment 834, power source 836 and powercircuitry 837. WD 810 may include multiple sets of one or more of theillustrated components for different wireless technologies supported byWD 810, such as, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, WiMAX, NB-IoT,or Bluetooth wireless technologies, just to mention a few. Thesewireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chipsor set of chips as other components within WD 810.

Antenna 811 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays,configured to send and/or receive wireless signals, and is connected tointerface 814. In certain alternative embodiments, antenna 811 may beseparate from WD 810 and be connectable to WD 810 through an interfaceor port. Antenna 811, interface 814, and/or processing circuitry 820 maybe configured to perform any receiving or transmitting operationsdescribed herein as being performed by a WD. Any information, dataand/or signals may be received from a network node and/or another WD. Insome embodiments, radio front end circuitry and/or antenna 811 may beconsidered an interface.

As illustrated, interface 814 comprises radio front end circuitry 812and antenna 811. Radio front end circuitry 812 comprises one or morefilters 818 and amplifiers 816. Radio front end circuitry 814 isconnected to antenna 811 and processing circuitry 820, and is configuredto condition signals communicated between antenna 811 and processingcircuitry 820. Radio front end circuitry 812 may be coupled to or a partof antenna 811. In some embodiments, WD 810 may not include separateradio front end circuitry 812; rather, processing circuitry 820 maycomprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna 811.Similarly, in some embodiments, some or all of RF transceiver circuitry822 may be considered a part of interface 814. Radio front end circuitry812 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other networknodes or WDs via a wireless connection. Radio front end circuitry 812may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriatechannel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 818and/or amplifiers 816. The radio signal may then be transmitted viaantenna 811. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna 811 may collectradio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio frontend circuitry 812. The digital data may be passed to processingcircuitry 820. In other embodiments, the interface may comprisedifferent components and/or different combinations of components.

Processing circuitry 820 may comprise a combination of one or more of amicroprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit,digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, fieldprogrammable gate array, or any other suitable computing device,resource, or combination of hardware, software, and/or encoded logicoperable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other WD 810components, such as device readable medium 830, WD 810 functionality.Such functionality may include providing any of the various wirelessfeatures or benefits discussed herein. For example, processing circuitry820 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium 830 or inmemory within processing circuitry 820 to provide the functionalitydisclosed herein.

As illustrated, processing circuitry 820 includes one or more of RFtransceiver circuitry 822, baseband processing circuitry 824, andapplication processing circuitry 826. In other embodiments, theprocessing circuitry may comprise different components and/or differentcombinations of components. In certain embodiments processing circuitry820 of WD 810 may comprise a SOC. In some embodiments, RF transceivercircuitry 822, baseband processing circuitry 824, and applicationprocessing circuitry 826 may be on separate chips or sets of chips. Inalternative embodiments, part or all of baseband processing circuitry824 and application processing circuitry 826 may be combined into onechip or set of chips, and RF transceiver circuitry 822 may be on aseparate chip or set of chips. In still alternative embodiments, part orall of RF transceiver circuitry 822 and baseband processing circuitry824 may be on the same chip or set of chips, and application processingcircuitry 826 may be on a separate chip or set of chips. In yet otheralternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 822,baseband processing circuitry 824, and application processing circuitry826 may be combined in the same chip or set of chips. In someembodiments, RF transceiver circuitry 822 may be a part of interface814. RF transceiver circuitry 822 may condition RF signals forprocessing circuitry 820.

In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality describedherein as being performed by a WD may be provided by processingcircuitry 820 executing instructions stored on device readable medium830, which in certain embodiments may be a computer-readable storagemedium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality maybe provided by processing circuitry 820 without executing instructionsstored on a separate or discrete device readable storage medium, such asin a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whetherexecuting instructions stored on a device readable storage medium ornot, processing circuitry 820 can be configured to perform the describedfunctionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are notlimited to processing circuitry 820 alone or to other components of WD810, but are enjoyed by WD 810 as a whole, and/or by end users and thewireless network generally.

Processing circuitry 820 may be configured to perform any determining,calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations)described herein as being performed by a WD. These operations, asperformed by processing circuitry 820, may include processinginformation obtained by processing circuitry 820 by, for example,converting the obtained information into other information, comparingthe obtained information or converted information to information storedby WD 810, and/or performing one or more operations based on theobtained information or converted information, and as a result of saidprocessing making a determination.

Device readable medium 830 may be operable to store a computer program,software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code,tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executed byprocessing circuitry 820. Device readable medium 830 may includecomputer memory (e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM) or Read Only Memory(ROM)), mass storage media (e.g., a hard disk), removable storage media(e.g., a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or anyother volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device readable and/orcomputer executable memory devices that store information, data, and/orinstructions that may be used by processing circuitry 820. In someembodiments, processing circuitry 820 and device readable medium 830 maybe considered to be integrated. User interface equipment 832 may providecomponents that allow for a human user to interact with WD 810. Suchinteraction may be of many forms, such as visual, audial, tactile, etc.User interface equipment 832 may be operable to produce output to theuser and to allow the user to provide input to WD 810. The type ofinteraction may vary depending on the type of user interface equipment832 installed in WD 810. For example, if WD 810 is a smart phone, theinteraction may be via a touch screen; if WD 810 is a smart meter, theinteraction may be through a screen that provides usage (e.g., thenumber of gallons used) or a speaker that provides an audible alert(e.g., if smoke is detected). User interface equipment 832 may includeinput interfaces, devices and circuits, and output interfaces, devicesand circuits. User interface equipment 832 is configured to allow inputof information into WD 810, and is connected to processing circuitry 820to allow processing circuitry 820 to process the input information. Userinterface equipment 832 may include, for example, a microphone, aproximity or other sensor, keys/buttons, a touch display, one or morecameras, a USB port, or other input circuitry. User interface equipment832 is also configured to allow output of information from WD 810, andto allow processing circuitry 820 to output information from WD 810.User interface equipment 832 may include, for example, a speaker, adisplay, vibrating circuitry, a USB port, a headphone interface, orother output circuitry. Using one or more input and output interfaces,devices, and circuits, of user interface equipment 832, WD 810 maycommunicate with end users and/or the wireless network, and allow themto benefit from the functionality described herein.

Auxiliary equipment 834 is operable to provide more specificfunctionality which may not be generally performed by WDs. This maycomprise specialized sensors for doing measurements for variouspurposes, interfaces for additional types of communication such as wiredcommunications etc. The inclusion and type of components of auxiliaryequipment 834 may vary depending on the embodiment and/or scenario.

Power source 836 may, in some embodiments, be in the form of a batteryor battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external powersource (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic devices or powercells, may also be used. WD 810 may further comprise power circuitry 837for delivering power from power source 836 to the various parts of WD810 which need power from power source 836 to carry out anyfunctionality described or indicated herein. Power circuitry 837 may incertain embodiments comprise power management circuitry. Power circuitry837 may additionally or alternatively be operable to receive power froman external power source; in which case WD 810 may be connectable to theexternal power source (such as an electricity outlet) via inputcircuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Powercircuitry 837 may also in certain embodiments be operable to deliverpower from an external power source to power source 836. This may be,for example, for the charging of power source 836. Power circuitry 837may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to thepower from power source 836 to make the power suitable for therespective components of WD 810 to which power is supplied.

FIG. 9 illustrates one embodiment of a UE in accordance with variousaspects described herein. As used herein, a user equipment or UE may notnecessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/oroperates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device thatis intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which maynot, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific humanuser (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE mayrepresent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, anend user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit ofa user (e.g., a smart power meter). UE 920 may be any UE identified bythe 3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a NB-IoT UE,a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.UE 900, as illustrated in FIG. 9, is one example of a WD configured forcommunication in accordance with one or more communication standardspromulgated by the 3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as3GPP's GSM, UMTS, LTE, and/or 5G standards. As mentioned previously, theterm WD and UE may be used interchangeable. Accordingly, although FIG. 9is a UE, the components discussed herein are equally applicable to a WD,and vice-versa.

In FIG. 9, UE 900 includes processing circuitry 901 that is operativelycoupled to input/output interface 905, radio frequency (RF) interface909, network connection interface 911, memory 915 including randomaccess memory (RAM) 917, read-only memory (ROM) 919, and storage medium921 or the like, communication subsystem 931, power source 933, and/orany other component, or any combination thereof. Storage medium 921includes operating system 923, application program 925, and data 927. Inother embodiments, storage medium 921 may include other similar types ofinformation. Certain UEs may utilize all of the components shown in FIG.9, or only a subset of the components. The level of integration betweenthe components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEsmay contain multiple instances of a component, such as multipleprocessors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

In FIG. 9, processing circuitry 901 may be configured to processcomputer instructions and data. Processing circuitry 901 may beconfigured to implement any sequential state machine operative toexecute machine instructions stored as machine-readable computerprograms in the memory, such as one or more hardware-implemented statemachines (e.g., in discrete logic, FPGA, ASIC, etc.); programmable logictogether with appropriate firmware; one or more stored program,general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or Digital SignalProcessor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combinationof the above. For example, the processing circuitry 901 may include twocentral processing units (CPUs). Data may be information in a formsuitable for use by a computer.

In the depicted embodiment, input/output interface 905 may be configuredto provide a communication interface to an input device, output device,or input and output device. UE 900 may be configured to use an outputdevice via input/output interface 905. An output device may use the sametype of interface port as an input device. For example, a USB port maybe used to provide input to and output from UE 900. The output devicemay be a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, aprinter, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, orany combination thereof. UE 900 may be configured to use an input devicevia input/output interface 905 to allow a user to capture informationinto UE 900. The input device may include a touch-sensitive orpresence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digitalvideo camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, atrackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard,and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive orresistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, forinstance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor,a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, another likesensor, or any combination thereof. For example, the input device may bean accelerometer, a magnetometer, a digital camera, a microphone, and anoptical sensor.

In FIG. 9, RF interface 909 may be configured to provide a communicationinterface to RF components such as a transmitter, a receiver, and anantenna. Network connection interface 911 may be configured to provide acommunication interface to network 943 a. Network 943 a may encompasswired and/or wireless networks such as a local-area network (LAN), awide-area network (WAN), a computer network, a wireless network, atelecommunications network, another like network or any combinationthereof. For example, network 943 a may comprise a Wi-Fi network.Network connection interface 911 may be configured to include a receiverand a transmitter interface used to communicate with one or more otherdevices over a communication network according to one or morecommunication protocols, such as Ethernet, TCP/IP, SONET, ATM, or thelike. Network connection interface 911 may implement receiver andtransmitter functionality appropriate to the communication network links(e.g., optical, electrical, and the like). The transmitter and receiverfunctions may share circuit components, software or firmware, oralternatively may be implemented separately.

RAM 917 may be configured to interface via bus 902 to processingcircuitry 901 to provide storage or caching of data or computerinstructions during the execution of software programs such as theoperating system, application programs, and device drivers. ROM 919 maybe configured to provide computer instructions or data to processingcircuitry 901. For example, ROM 919 may be configured to store invariantlow-level system code or data for basic system functions such as basicinput and output (I/O), startup, or reception of keystrokes from akeyboard that are stored in a non-volatile memory. Storage medium 921may be configured to include memory such as RAM, ROM, programmableread-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magneticdisks, optical disks, floppy disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, orflash drives. In one example, storage medium 921 may be configured toinclude operating system 923, application program 925 such as a webbrowser application, a widget or gadget engine or another application,and data file 927. Storage medium 921 may store, for use by UE 900, anyof a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operatingsystems.

Storage medium 921 may be configured to include a number of physicaldrive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), floppydisk drive, flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive,thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc(HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray opticaldisc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive,external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamicrandom access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcardmemory such as a subscriber identity module or a removable user identity(SIM/RUIM) module, other memory, or any combination thereof. Storagemedium 921 may allow UE 900 to access computer-executable instructions,application programs or the like, stored on transitory or non-transitorymemory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article ofmanufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may betangibly embodied in storage medium 921, which may comprise a devicereadable medium.

In FIG. 9, processing circuitry 901 may be configured to communicatewith network 943 b using communication subsystem 931. Network 943 a andnetwork 943 b may be the same network or networks or different networkor networks. Communication subsystem 931 may be configured to includeone or more transceivers used to communicate with network 943 b. Forexample, communication subsystem 931 may be configured to include one ormore transceivers used to communicate with one or more remotetransceivers of another device capable of wireless communication such asanother WD, UE, or base station of a radio access network (RAN)according to one or more communication protocols, such as IEEE 802.12,CDMA, WCDMA, GSM, LTE, UTRAN, WiMax, or the like. Each transceiver mayinclude transmitter 933 and/or receiver 935 to implement transmitter orreceiver functionality, respectively, appropriate to the RAN links(e.g., frequency allocations and the like). Further, transmitter 933 andreceiver 935 of each transceiver may share circuit components, softwareor firmware, or alternatively may be implemented separately.

In the illustrated embodiment, the communication functions ofcommunication subsystem 931 may include data communication, voicecommunication, multimedia communication, short-range communications suchas Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communicationsuch as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine alocation, another like communication function, or any combinationthereof. For example, communication subsystem 931 may include cellularcommunication, Wi-Fi communication, Bluetooth communication, and GPScommunication. Network 943 b may encompass wired and/or wirelessnetworks such as a local-area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN),a computer network, a wireless network, a telecommunications network,another like network or any combination thereof. For example, network943 b may be a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, and/or a near-fieldnetwork. Power source 913 may be configured to provide alternatingcurrent (AC) or direct current (DC) power to components of UE 900.

The features, benefits and/or functions described herein may beimplemented in one of the components of UE 900 or partitioned acrossmultiple components of UE 900. Further, the features, benefits, and/orfunctions described herein may be implemented in any combination ofhardware, software or firmware. In one example, communication subsystem931 may be configured to include any of the components described herein.Further, processing circuitry 901 may be configured to communicate withany of such components over bus 902. In another example, any of suchcomponents may be represented by program instructions stored in memorythat when executed by processing circuitry 901 perform the correspondingfunctions described herein. In another example, the functionality of anyof such components may be partitioned between processing circuitry 901and communication subsystem 931. In another example, thenon-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may beimplemented in software or firmware and the computationally intensivefunctions may be implemented in hardware.

FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a virtualizationenvironment 1000 in which functions implemented by some embodiments maybe virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creatingvirtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may includevirtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices, and networkingresources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to a node(e.g., a virtualized base station or a virtualized radio access node) orto a device (e.g., a UE, a wireless device or any other type ofcommunication device) or components thereof and relates to animplementation in which at least a portion of the functionality isimplemented as one or more virtual components (e.g., via one or moreapplications, components, functions, virtual machines or containersexecuting on one or more physical processing nodes in one or morenetworks).

In some embodiments, some or all of the functions described herein maybe implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtualmachines implemented in one or more virtual environments 1000 hosted byone or more of hardware nodes 1030. Further, in embodiments in which thevirtual node is not a radio access node or does not require radioconnectivity (e.g., a core network node), then the network node may beentirely virtualized.

The functions may be implemented by one or more applications 1020 (whichmay alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances,network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.)operative to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefitsof some of the embodiments disclosed herein. Applications 1020 are runin virtualization environment 1000 which provides hardware 1030comprising processing circuitry 1060 and memory 1090. Memory 1090contains instructions 1095 executable by processing circuitry 1060whereby application 1020 is operative to provide one or more of thefeatures, benefits, and/or functions disclosed herein.

Virtualization environment 1000, comprises general-purpose orspecial-purpose network hardware devices 1030 comprising a set of one ormore processors or processing circuitry 1060, which may be commercialoff-the-shelf (COTS) processors, dedicated Application SpecificIntegrated Circuits (ASICs), or any other type of processing circuitryincluding digital or analog hardware components or special purposeprocessors. Each hardware device may comprise memory 1090-1 which may benon-persistent memory for temporarily storing instructions 1095 orsoftware executed by processing circuitry 1060. Each hardware device maycomprise one or more network interface controllers (NICs) 1070, alsoknown as network interface cards, which include physical networkinterface 1080. Each hardware device may also include non-transitory,persistent, machine-readable storage media 1090-2 having stored thereinsoftware 1095 and/or instructions executable by processing circuitry1060. Software 1095 may include any type of software including softwarefor instantiating one or more virtualization layers 1050 (also referredto as hypervisors), software to execute virtual machines 1040 as well assoftware allowing it to execute functions, features and/or benefitsdescribed in relation with some embodiments described herein.

Virtual machines 1040, comprise virtual processing, virtual memory,virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by acorresponding virtualization layer 1050 or hypervisor. Differentembodiments of the instance of virtual appliance 1020 may be implementedon one or more of virtual machines 1040, and the implementations may bemade in different ways.

During operation, processing circuitry 1060 executes software 1095 toinstantiate the hypervisor or virtualization layer 1050, which maysometimes be referred to as a virtual machine monitor (VMM).Virtualization layer 1050 may present a virtual operating platform thatappears like networking hardware to virtual machine 1040.

As shown in FIG. 10, hardware 1030 may be a standalone network node withgeneric or specific components. Hardware 1030 may comprise antenna 10225and may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively,hardware 1030 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such asin a data center or customer premise equipment (CPE)) where manyhardware nodes work together and are managed via management andorchestration (MANO) 1010, which, among others, oversees lifecyclemanagement of applications 1020. Virtualization of the hardware is insome contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFVmay be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industrystandard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physicalstorage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premiseequipment.

In the context of NFV, virtual machine 1040 may be a softwareimplementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they wereexecuting on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of virtualmachines 1040, and that part of hardware 1030 that executes that virtualmachine, be it hardware dedicated to that virtual machine and/orhardware shared by that virtual machine with others of the virtualmachines 1040, forms a separate virtual network elements (VNE).

Still in the context of NFV, Virtual Network Function (VNF) isresponsible for handling specific network functions that run in one ormore virtual machines 1040 on top of hardware networking infrastructure1030 and corresponds to application 1020 in FIG. 10.

In some embodiments, one or more radio units 1020 that each include oneor more transmitters 1022 and one or more receivers 1021 may be coupledto one or more antennas 1025. Radio units 1020 may communicate directlywith hardware nodes 1030 via one or more appropriate network interfacesand may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide avirtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or abase station. In some embodiments, some signalling can be effected withthe use of control system 1023 which may alternatively be used forcommunication between the hardware nodes 1030 and radio units 1020.

FIG. 11 illustrates a telecommunication network connected via anintermediate network to a host computer in accordance with someembodiments. In particular, with reference to FIG. 11, in accordancewith an embodiment, a communication system includes telecommunicationnetwork 1110, such as a 3GPP-type cellular network, which comprisesaccess network 1111, such as a radio access network, and core network1114. Access network 1111 comprises a plurality of base stations 1112 a,1112 b, 1112 c, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wirelessaccess points, each defining a corresponding coverage area 1113 a, 1113b, 1113 c. Each base station 1112 a, 1112 b, 1112 c is connectable tocore network 1114 over a wired or wireless connection 1115. A first UE1191 located in coverage area 1113 c is configured to wirelessly connectto, or be paged by, the corresponding base station 1112 c. A second UE1192 in coverage area 1113 a is wirelessly connectable to thecorresponding base station 1112 a. While a plurality of UEs 1191, 1192are illustrated in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equallyapplicable to a situation where a sole UE is in the coverage area orwhere a sole UE is connecting to the corresponding base station 1112.

Telecommunication network 1110 is itself connected to host computer1130, which may be embodied in the hardware and/or software of astandalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, oras processing resources in a server farm. Host computer 1130 may beunder the ownership or control of a service provider, or may be operatedby the service provider or on behalf of the service provider.Connections 1121 and 1122 between telecommunication network 1110 andhost computer 1130 may extend directly from core network 1114 to hostcomputer 1130 or may go via an optional intermediate network 1120.Intermediate network 1120 may be one of, or a combination of more thanone of, a public, private or hosted network; intermediate network 1120,if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular,intermediate network 1120 may comprise two or more sub-networks (notshown).

The communication system of FIG. 11 as a whole enables connectivitybetween the connected UEs 1191, 1192 and host computer 1130. Theconnectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection 1150.Host computer 1130 and the connected UEs 1191, 1192 are configured tocommunicate data and/or signaling via OTT connection 1150, using accessnetwork 1111, core network 1114, any intermediate network 1120 andpossible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. OTTconnection 1150 may be transparent in the sense that the participatingcommunication devices through which OTT connection 1150 passes areunaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example,base station 1112 may not or need not be informed about the past routingof an incoming downlink communication with data originating from hostcomputer 1130 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected UE1191. Similarly, base station 1112 need not be aware of the futurerouting of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UE 1191towards the host computer 1130.

Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the UE,base station and host computer discussed in the preceding paragraphswill now be described with reference to FIG. 12. FIG. 12 illustrateshost computer communicating via a base station with a user equipmentover a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodimentsIn communication system 1200, host computer 1210 comprises hardware 1215including communication interface 1216 configured to set up and maintaina wired or wireless connection with an interface of a differentcommunication device of communication system 1200. Host computer 1210further comprises processing circuitry 1218, which may have storageand/or processing capabilities. In particular, processing circuitry 1218may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specificintegrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations ofthese (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. Host computer 1210further comprises software 1211, which is stored in or accessible byhost computer 1210 and executable by processing circuitry 1218. Software1211 includes host application 1212. Host application 1212 may beoperable to provide a service to a remote user, such as UE 1230connecting via OTT connection 1250 terminating at UE 1230 and hostcomputer 1210. In providing the service to the remote user, hostapplication 1212 may provide user data which is transmitted using OTTconnection 1250.

Communication system 1200 further includes base station 1220 provided ina telecommunication system and comprising hardware 1225 enabling it tocommunicate with host computer 1210 and with UE 1230. Hardware 1225 mayinclude communication interface 1226 for setting up and maintaining awired or wireless connection with an interface of a differentcommunication device of communication system 1200, as well as radiointerface 1227 for setting up and maintaining at least wirelessconnection 1270 with UE 1230 located in a coverage area (not shown inFIG. 12) served by base station 1220. Communication interface 1226 maybe configured to facilitate connection 1260 to host computer 1210.Connection 1260 may be direct or it may pass through a core network (notshown in FIG. 12) of the telecommunication system and/or through one ormore intermediate networks outside the telecommunication system. In theembodiment shown, hardware 1225 of base station 1220 further includesprocessing circuitry 1228, which may comprise one or more programmableprocessors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmablegate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to executeinstructions. Base station 1220 further has software 1221 storedinternally or accessible via an external connection.

Communication system 1200 further includes UE 1230 already referred to.Its hardware 1235 may include radio interface 1237 configured to set upand maintain wireless connection 1270 with a base station serving acoverage area in which UE 1230 is currently located. Hardware 1235 of UE1230 further includes processing circuitry 1238, which may comprise oneor more programmable processors, application-specific integratedcircuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (notshown) adapted to execute instructions. UE 1230 further comprisessoftware 1231, which is stored in or accessible by UE 1230 andexecutable by processing circuitry 1238. Software 1231 includes clientapplication 1232. Client application 1232 may be operable to provide aservice to a human or non-human user via UE 1230, with the support ofhost computer 1210. In host computer 1210, an executing host application1212 may communicate with the executing client application 1232 via OTTconnection 1250 terminating at UE 1230 and host computer 1210. Inproviding the service to the user, client application 1232 may receiverequest data from host application 1212 and provide user data inresponse to the request data. OTT connection 1250 may transfer both therequest data and the user data. Client application 1232 may interactwith the user to generate the user data that it provides.

It is noted that host computer 1210, base station 1220 and UE 1230illustrated in FIG. 12 may be similar or identical to host computer1230, one of base stations 1212 a, 1212 b, 1212 c and one of UEs 1291,1292 of FIG. 12, respectively. This is to say, the inner workings ofthese entities may be as shown in FIG. 12 and independently, thesurrounding network topology may be that of FIG. 12.

In FIG. 12, OTT connection 1250 has been drawn abstractly to illustratethe communication between host computer 1210 and UE 1230 via basestation 1220, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices andthe precise routing of messages via these devices. Networkinfrastructure may determine the routing, which it may be configured tohide from UE 1230 or from the service provider operating host computer1210, or both. While OTT connection 1250 is active, the networkinfrastructure may further take decisions by which it dynamicallychanges the routing (e.g., on the basis of load balancing considerationor reconfiguration of the network).

Wireless connection 1270 between UE 1230 and base station 1220 is inaccordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughoutthis disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improve theperformance of OTT services provided to UE 1230 using OTT connection1250, in which wireless connection 1270 forms the last segment.

A measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoringdata rate, latency and other factors on which the one or moreembodiments improve. There may further be an optional networkfunctionality for reconfiguring OTT connection 1250 between hostcomputer 1210 and UE 1230, in response to variations in the measurementresults. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality forreconfiguring OTT connection 1250 may be implemented in software 1211and hardware 1215 of host computer 1210 or in software 1231 and hardware1235 of UE 1230, or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may bedeployed in or in association with communication devices through whichOTT connection 1250 passes; the sensors may participate in themeasurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantitiesexemplified above, or by supplying values of other physical quantitiesfrom which software 1211, 1231 may compute or estimate the monitoredquantities. The reconfiguring of OTT connection 1250 may include messageformat, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; thereconfiguring need not affect base station 1220, and it may be unknownor imperceptible to base station 1220. Such procedures andfunctionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certainembodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signalingfacilitating host computer 1210's measurements of throughput,propagation times, latency and the like. The measurements may beimplemented in that software 1211 and 1231 causes messages to betransmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using OTTconnection 1250 while it monitors propagation times, errors etc.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in acommunication system, in accordance with one embodiment. Thecommunication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UEwhich may be those described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12. Forsimplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 13will be included in this section. In step 1310, the host computerprovides user data. In substep 1311 (which may be optional) of step1310, the host computer provides the user data by executing a hostapplication. In step 1320, the host computer initiates a transmissioncarrying the user data to the UE. In step 1330 (which may be optional),the base station transmits to the UE the user data which was carried inthe transmission that the host computer initiated, in accordance withthe teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.In step 1340 (which may also be optional), the UE executes a clientapplication associated with the host application executed by the hostcomputer.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in acommunication system, in accordance with one embodiment. Thecommunication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UEwhich may be those described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12. Forsimplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 14will be included in this section. In step 1410 of the method, the hostcomputer provides user data. In an optional substep (not shown) the hostcomputer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step1420, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user datato the UE. The transmission may pass via the base station, in accordancewith the teachings of the embodiments described throughout thisdisclosure. In step 1430 (which may be optional), the UE receives theuser data carried in the transmission.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in acommunication system, in accordance with one embodiment. Thecommunication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UEwhich may be those described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12. Forsimplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 15will be included in this section. In step 1510 (which may be optional),the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionallyor alternatively, in step 1520, the UE provides user data. In substep1521 (which may be optional) of step 1520, the UE provides the user databy executing a client application. In substep 1511 (which may beoptional) of step 1510, the UE executes a client application whichprovides the user data in reaction to the received input data providedby the host computer. In providing the user data, the executed clientapplication may further consider user input received from the user.Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided,the UE initiates, in substep 1530 (which may be optional), transmissionof the user data to the host computer. In step 1540 of the method, thehost computer receives the user data transmitted from the UE, inaccordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughoutthis disclosure.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in acommunication system, in accordance with one embodiment. Thecommunication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UEwhich may be those described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12. Forsimplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 16will be included in this section. In step 1610 (which may be optional),in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughoutthis disclosure, the base station receives user data from the UE. Instep 1620 (which may be optional), the base station initiatestransmission of the received user data to the host computer. In step1630 (which may be optional), the host computer receives the user datacarried in the transmission initiated by the base station.

Any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions, or benefitsdisclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional unitsor modules of one or more virtual apparatuses. Each virtual apparatusmay comprise a number of these functional units. These functional unitsmay be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one ormore microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digitalhardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs),special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitrymay be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which mayinclude one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM),random-access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, opticalstorage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes programinstructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or datacommunications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one ormore of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, theprocessing circuitry may be used to cause the respective functional unitto perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

Generally, all terms used herein are to be interpreted according totheir ordinary meaning in the relevant technical field, unless adifferent meaning is clearly given and/or is implied from the context inwhich it is used. All references to a/an/the element, apparatus,component, means, step, etc. are to be interpreted openly as referringto at least one instance of the element, apparatus, component, means,step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any methodsdisclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact orderdisclosed, unless a step is explicitly described as following orpreceding another step and/or where it is implicit that a step mustfollow or precede another step. Any feature of any of the embodimentsdisclosed herein may be applied to any other embodiment, whereverappropriate. Likewise, any advantage of any of the embodiments may applyto any other embodiments, and vice versa. Other objectives, features andadvantages of the enclosed embodiments will be apparent from thedescription.

The term unit may have conventional meaning in the field of electronics,electrical devices and/or electronic devices and may include, forexample, electrical and/or electronic circuitry, devices, modules,processors, memories, logic solid state and/or discrete devices,computer programs or instructions for carrying out respective tasks,procedures, computations, outputs, and/or displaying functions, and soon, as such as those that are described herein. Some of the embodimentscontemplated herein are described more fully with reference to theaccompanying drawings. Other embodiments, however, are contained withinthe scope of the subject matter disclosed herein. The disclosed subjectmatter should not be construed as limited to only the embodiments setforth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of exampleto convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

The following presents various embodiments for the solution presentedherein.

Group A Embodiments

1. A method performed by a wireless device, comprising receiving, by thewireless device, from a network node, an uplink grant that indicates anumber of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits, associatedwith one or more downlink assignments, that the wireless device is toinclude on an uplink channel associated with that uplink grant; and inresponse to determining that the number of acknowledgement or negativeacknowledgement bits is at least one bit, transmitting, on the uplinkchannel by the wireless device, on a cell indicated by that uplinkgrant, uplink control information having the acknowledgement or negativeacknowledgement bits.

2. The method of embodiment 1, wherein said receiving includesreceiving, by the wireless device, from the network node, a plurality ofuplink grants, including the uplink grant that indicates that the numberof acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits is at least one bit;and selecting, from among cells indicated by the plurality of uplinkgrants, the cell indicated by the uplink grant that indicates that thenumber of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits is at leastone bit, to transmit the uplink control information having theacknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits.

3. The method of embodiment 2, wherein said receiving includesreceiving, by the wireless device, from the network node, a plurality ofuplink grants, including at least two uplink grants that indicate thatthe number of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits is atleast one bit; and wherein said selecting includes selecting, from amongcells indicated by those at least two uplink grants, a cell that has alowest or highest cell index, to transmit the uplink control informationhaving the acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits.

4. The method of any of embodiments 2-3, wherein said receiving includesreceiving, by the wireless device, from the network node, a plurality ofuplink grants, including at least two uplink grants that indicate thatthe number of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits is atleast one bit; and wherein said selecting includes selecting, from amongcells indicated by those at least two uplink grants, a cell that has asmallest or largest resource allocation for the uplink channel, totransmit the uplink control information having the acknowledgement ornegative acknowledgement bits.

5. The method of any of embodiments 2-4, wherein said selectingincludes, in response to determining that one of the plurality of uplinkgrants indicates an aperiodic channel state information request,selecting a cell indicated by the uplink grant, that indicates anaperiodic channel state information request, to transmit the uplinkcontrol information having the acknowledgement or negativeacknowledgement bits or selecting the cell indicated by the uplinkgrant, that indicates that the number of acknowledgement or negativeacknowledgement bits is at least one bit, to transmit the uplink controlinformation having the acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits.

6A. The method of any of embodiments 1-5, wherein said transmittingincludes, in response to determining that a scheduled transmission ofperiodic or semi-persistent channel state information overlaps in timewith a scheduled transmission of the uplink control information havingthe acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits, transmitting, bythe wireless device, on the cell indicated by the uplink grant thatindicates that the number of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgementbits is at least one bit, that channel state information.

6B. The method of embodiment 6A, wherein the scheduled transmission ofthe periodic or semi-persistent channel state information overlaps in asame transmission time interval or slot with the scheduled transmissionof the uplink control information having the acknowledgement or negativeacknowledgement bits.

7. The method of any of embodiments 1-6B, wherein said selectingincludes in response to determining that the number of acknowledgementor negative acknowledgement bits indicates that the uplink controlinformation does not include the acknowledgement or negativeacknowledgement bits, selecting a primary cell of the wireless devicethat is granted to the wireless device, to transmit uplink controlinformation without the acknowledgement or negative acknowledgementbits.

8. The method of any of embodiments 1-7, wherein selecting includes inresponse to determining that the number of acknowledgement or negativeacknowledgement bits indicates that the uplink control information doesnot include the acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits,selecting one of a plurality of secondary cells of the network node,with each secondary cell being granted to the wireless device, that hasa lowest or highest cell index to transmit the uplink controlinformation without the acknowledgement or negative acknowledgementbits.

9. The method of any of embodiments 1-8, wherein the uplink channel is aphysical uplink shared channel.

10. The method of any of embodiments 1-9, wherein the uplink grantincludes a downlink assignment indicator that indicates the number ofacknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits associated with thedownlink channel.

11. The method of any of embodiments 1-10, wherein the uplink controlinformation includes at least one of acknowledgement or negativeacknowledgement bits; channel state information; scheduling request; andbeam information.

12. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprisingproviding user data; and forwarding the user data to a host computer viathe transmission to the base station.

Group B Embodiments

21. A method performed by a network node, comprising transmitting, bythe network node, to a wireless device, an uplink grant that indicatesthat a number of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits is atleast one bit, associated with one or more downlink assignments, thatthe wireless device is to include on an uplink channel associated withthe uplink grant; and in response, receiving, on that uplink channel ona cell indicated by the uplink grant, from the wireless device, uplinkcontrol information having the acknowledgement or negativeacknowledgement bits.

22. The method of embodiment 21, wherein said transmitting includestransmitting, by the network node, to the wireless device, a pluralityof uplink grants, including the uplink grant that indicates that thenumber of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits is at leastone bit; and wherein said receiving includes receiving, on the cellindicated by the uplink grant that indicates that the number ofacknowledgment or negative acknowledgement bits is at least one bit,from the wireless device, the uplink control information having theacknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits.

23. The method of any of embodiments 21-22, wherein said transmittingincludes transmitting, by the network node, to the wireless device, aplurality of uplink grants, including at least two uplink grants thatindicate that the number of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgementbits is at least one bit; and wherein said receiving includes receiving,on one of a plurality of cells indicated by those at least two uplinkgrants that has a lowest or highest cell index, from the wirelessdevice, the uplink control information having the acknowledgement ornegative acknowledgement bits.

24. The method of any of embodiments 21-23, wherein said transmittingincludes transmitting, by the network node, to the wireless device, aplurality of uplink grants, including at least two uplink grants thatindicate that the number of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgementbits is at least one bit; and wherein said receiving includes receiving,on one of a plurality of cells indicated by those at least two uplinkgrants that has a smallest or largest resource allocation for the uplinkchannel, from the wireless device, the uplink control information havingthe acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits.

25. The method of any of embodiments 21-24, wherein said receivingincludes receiving, on an uplink channel associated with the uplinkgrant that indicates the aperiodic channel state information request ona cell indicated by that uplink grant, from the wireless device, uplinkcontrol information having the acknowledgement or negativeacknowledgement bits; or receiving, on an uplink channel associated withthe uplink grant that indicates that the number of acknowledgement ornegative acknowledgement bits is at least one bit, on the cell indicatedby that uplink grant, from the wireless device, uplink controlinformation having the acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits.

26A. The method of any of embodiments 21-25, wherein said receivingincludes receiving, on the cell indicated by the uplink grant thatindicates that the number of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgementbits is at least one bit, from the wireless device, periodic orsemi-persistent channel state information that overlaps in time with theuplink control information having the acknowledgement or negativeacknowledgement bits.

26B. The method of embodiment 26A, wherein the periodic orsemi-persistent channel state information overlaps in a sametransmission time interval or slot with the uplink control informationhaving the acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits.

27. The method of any of embodiments 21-26B, further comprisingtransmitting, by the network node, to the wireless device, an uplinkgrant that indicates that the uplink control information does notinclude the acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits; andreceiving, on the uplink channel on a primary cell of the wirelessdevice that is granted to the wireless device, from the wireless device,uplink control information without the acknowledgement or negativeacknowledgement bits.

28. The method of any of embodiments 21-27, further comprisingtransmitting, by the network node, to the wireless device, an uplinkgrant that indicates that the uplink control information does notinclude the acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits; andreceiving, on the uplink channel on one of a plurality of secondarycells of the network node, with each secondary cell being granted to thewireless device, that has a lowest or highest cell index, uplink controlinformation without the acknowledgement or negative acknowledgementbits.

29. The method of any of embodiments 21-28, wherein the uplink controlchannel is a physical uplink shared channel.

30. The method of any of embodiments 21-29, wherein the uplink grantincludes an uplink, downlink assignment indicator that indicates thenumber of acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement bits associatedwith the downlink channel.

31. The method of any of embodiments 21-30, wherein the uplink controlinformation includes at least one of acknowledgement or negativeacknowledgement bits; channel state information; scheduling request; andbeam information.

32. The method of any of the previous Group B embodiments, furthercomprising obtaining user data; and forwarding the user data to a hostcomputer or a wireless device.

Group C Embodiments

C1. A wireless device configured to perform any of the steps of any ofthe Group A embodiments.

C2. A wireless device comprising processing circuitry configured toperform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; and powersupply circuitry configured to supply power to the wireless device.

C3. A wireless device comprising processing circuitry and memory, thememory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitrywhereby the wireless device is configured to perform any of the steps ofany of the Group A embodiments.

C4. A user equipment (UE) comprising an antenna configured to send andreceive wireless signals; radio front-end circuitry connected to theantenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signalscommunicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry; theprocessing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of anyof the Group A embodiments; an input interface connected to theprocessing circuitry and configured to allow input of information intothe UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; an output interfaceconnected to the processing circuitry and configured to outputinformation from the UE that has been processed by the processingcircuitry; and a battery connected to the processing circuitry andconfigured to supply power to the UE.

C5. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed byat least one processor of a wireless device, causes the wireless deviceto carry out the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

C6. A carrier containing the computer program of embodiment C5, whereinthe carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radiosignal, or computer readable storage medium.

C7. A base station configured to perform any of the steps of any of theGroup B embodiments.

C8. A base station comprising processing circuitry configured to performany of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments; power supplycircuitry configured to supply power to the wireless device.

C9. A base station comprising processing circuitry and memory, thememory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitrywhereby the base station is configured to perform any of the steps ofany of the Group B embodiments.

010. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed byat least one processor of a base station, causes the base station tocarry out the steps of any of the Group B embodiments.

011. A carrier containing the computer program of embodiment 010,wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal,radio signal, or computer readable storage medium.

Group D Embodiments

D1. A communication system including a host computer comprisingprocessing circuitry configured to provide user data; and acommunication interface configured to forward the user data to acellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein thecellular network comprises a base station having a radio interface andprocessing circuitry, the base station's processing circuitry configuredto perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments.

D2. The communication system of the pervious embodiment furtherincluding the base station.

D3. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, furtherincluding the UE, wherein the UE is configured to communicate with thebase station.

D4. The communication system of the previous 3 embodiments, wherein theprocessing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute ahost application, thereby providing the user data; and the UE comprisesprocessing circuitry configured to execute a client applicationassociated with the host application.

D5. A method implemented in a communication system including a hostcomputer, a base station and a user equipment (UE), the methodcomprising at the host computer, providing user data; and at the hostcomputer, initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE viaa cellular network comprising the base station, wherein the base stationperforms any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments.

D6. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising, at thebase station, transmitting the user data.

D7. The method of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein the user data isprovided at the host computer by executing a host application, themethod further comprising, at the UE, executing a client applicationassociated with the host application.

D8. A user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a base station,the UE comprising a radio interface and processing circuitry configuredto perform any of the previous 3 embodiments.

D9. A communication system including a host computer comprisingprocessing circuitry configured to provide user data; and acommunication interface configured to forward user data to a cellularnetwork for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UEcomprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the UE'scomponents configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group Aembodiments.

D10. The communication system of the previous embodiment, wherein thecellular network further includes a base station configured tocommunicate with the UE.

D11. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein theprocessing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute ahost application, thereby providing the user data; and the UE'sprocessing circuitry is configured to execute a client applicationassociated with the host application.

D12. A method implemented in a communication system including a hostcomputer, a base station and a user equipment (UE), the methodcomprising at the host computer, providing user data; and at the hostcomputer, initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE viaa cellular network comprising the base station, wherein the UE performsany of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

D13. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising at theUE, receiving the user data from the base station.

D14. A communication system including a host computer comprisingcommunication interface configured to receive user data originating froma transmission from a user equipment (UE) to a base station, wherein theUE comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the UE'sprocessing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any ofthe Group A embodiments.

D15. The communication system of the previous embodiment, furtherincluding the UE.

D16. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, furtherincluding the base station, wherein the base station comprises a radiointerface configured to communicate with the UE and a communicationinterface configured to forward to the host computer the user datacarried by a transmission from the UE to the base station.

D17. The communication system of the previous 3 embodiments, wherein theprocessing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute ahost application; and the UE's processing circuitry is configured toexecute a client application associated with the host application,thereby providing the user data.

D18. The communication system of the previous 4 embodiments, wherein theprocessing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute ahost application, thereby providing request data; and the UE'sprocessing circuitry is configured to execute a client applicationassociated with the host application, thereby providing the user data inresponse to the request data.

D19. A method implemented in a communication system including a hostcomputer, a base station and a user equipment (UE), the methodcomprising at the host computer, receiving user data transmitted to thebase station from the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps ofany of the Group A embodiments.

D20. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising, at theUE, providing the user data to the base station.

D21. The method of the previous 2 embodiments, further comprising at theUE, executing a client application, thereby providing the user data tobe transmitted; and at the host computer, executing a host applicationassociated with the client application.

D22. The method of the previous 3 embodiments, further comprising at theUE, executing a client application; and at the UE, receiving input datato the client application, the input data being provided at the hostcomputer by executing a host application associated with the clientapplication, wherein the user data to be transmitted is provided by theclient application in response to the input data.

D23. A communication system including a host computer comprising acommunication interface configured to receive user data originating froma transmission from a user equipment (UE) to a base station, wherein thebase station comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, thebase station's processing circuitry configured to perform any of thesteps of any of the Group B embodiments.

D24. The communication system of the previous embodiment furtherincluding the base station.

D25. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, furtherincluding the UE, wherein the UE is configured to communicate with thebase station.

D26. The communication system of the previous 3 embodiments, wherein theprocessing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute ahost application; the UE is configured to execute a client applicationassociated with the host application, thereby providing the user data tobe received by the host computer.

D27. A method implemented in a communication system including a hostcomputer, a base station and a user equipment (UE), the methodcomprising at the host computer, receiving, from the base station, userdata originating from a transmission which the base station has receivedfrom the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of theGroup A embodiments.

D28. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising at thebase station, receiving the user data from the UE.

D29. The method of the previous 2 embodiments, further comprising at thebase station, initiating a transmission of the received user data to thehost computer.

The present invention may, of course, be carried out in other ways thanthose specifically set forth herein without departing from essentialcharacteristics of the invention. The present embodiments are to beconsidered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and allchanges coming within the meaning and equivalency range of the appendedclaims are intended to be embraced therein.

1-38. (canceled)
 39. A method, performed by a wireless device, oftransmitting uplink control information, the method comprising:receiving, from a network node, an uplink grant for each of one or morecells, wherein at least one of the received uplink grants indicates afirst number of downlink assignments by the network node to the wirelessdevice; selecting, as a first cell, one of the one or more cellsresponsive to the at least one received uplink grant indicating thefirst number of downlink assignments; and transmitting uplink controlinformation via the first cell, said uplink control informationcomprising a first number of acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement(ACK/NACK) bits defined by the first number of downlink assignments. 40.The method of claim 39, wherein at least two of the received uplinkgrants indicates the first number of downlink assignments by the networknode to the wireless device, the method further comprising determiningthat the first number of ACK/NACK bits is zero responsive to each of theat least two received uplink grants indicating the first number ofdownlink assignments.
 41. The method of claim 40, wherein said selectingcomprises, in response to determining that the first number of ACK/NACKbits is zero, selecting a primary cell as said first cell.
 42. Themethod of claim 40, wherein: said selecting comprises, in response todetermining that the first number of ACK/NACK bits is zero, selecting asecondary cell as said first cell; and said secondary cell has a lowestor highest cell index of the cells.
 43. The method of claim 39 wherein afirst one of the received uplink grants indicates the first number ofdownlink assignments by the network node to the wireless device and asecond one of the received uplink grants indicates a second number ofdownlink assignments by the network node to the wireless device, themethod further comprising: selecting, as a second cell, the cellassociated with the second uplink grant, said second cell beingdifferent from said first cell; and transmitting second uplink controlinformation via the second cell, said second uplink control informationcomprising a second number of ACK/NACK bits defined by the second numberof downlink assignments.
 44. The method of claim 39, wherein: one ormore of the received uplink grants indicates a second number of downlinkassignments by the network node to the wireless device; and saidselecting comprises selecting, from among the cells having uplink grantsindicating the first or second number of downlink assignments, the cellhaving a lowest or highest cell index as the first cell.
 45. The methodof claim 39, wherein: one or more of the received uplink grantsindicates a second number of downlink assignments by the network node tothe wireless device; and said selecting comprises selecting, from amongthe cells having uplink grants indicating the first or second number ofdownlink assignments, the cell having a smallest or largest uplinkchannel resource allocation as the first cell.
 46. The method of claim39 wherein said selecting comprises selecting, as said first cell one ofthe one or more cells associated with the at least one received uplinkgrant indicating the first number of ACK/NACK bits.
 47. A wirelessdevice comprising: processing circuitry configured to: receive, from anetwork node, an uplink grant for each of one or more cells, wherein atleast one of the received uplink grants indicates a first number ofdownlink assignments by the network node to the wireless device; select,as a first cell, one of the one or more cells responsive to the at leastone received uplink grant indicating the first number of downlinkassignments; and transmit uplink control information via the first cell,said uplink control information comprising a first number ofacknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) bits defined by thefirst number of downlink assignments; and power supply circuitryconfigured to supply power to the wireless device.
 48. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium comprising a computer program product forcontrolling a wireless device, the computer program product comprisingsoftware instructions which, when run on at least one processing circuitin the wireless device, causes the wireless device to: receive, from anetwork node, an uplink grant for each of one or more cells, wherein atleast one of the received uplink grants indicates a first number ofdownlink assignments by the network node to the wireless device; select,as a first cell, one of the one or more cells responsive to the at leastone received uplink grant indicating the first number of downlinkassignments; and transmit uplink control information via the first cell,said uplink control information comprising a first number ofacknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) bits defined by thefirst number of downlink assignments.
 49. A method, performed by anetwork node in communication with a wireless device, of obtaininguplink control information, the method comprising: generating an uplinkgrant for each of one or more cells, wherein at least one of thegenerated uplink grants indicates a first number of downlink assignmentsby the network node to the wireless device to indicate to the wirelessdevice a first number of acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement(ACK/NACK) bits to be transmitted to the network node; transmitting eachof the generated uplink grants to the wireless device; and receivinguplink control information via a first cell selected by the wirelessdevice responsive to the transmitted uplink grants, the first cellcomprising one of the cells selected by the wireless device responsiveto the at least one generated uplink grants indicating the first numberof downlink assignments, said uplink control information comprising thefirst number of ACK/NACK bits.
 50. The method of claim 49, wherein twoor more of the generated uplink grants indicate the first number ofdownlink assignments by the network node to the wireless device toindicate to the wireless device that the first number of ACK/NACK bitsis zero.
 51. The method of claim 49, wherein one or more of thegenerated uplink grants indicate a second number of downlink assignmentsby the network node to the wireless device to indicate to the wirelessdevice a second number of ACK/NACK bits to be transmitted by thewireless device to the network node via a second cell associated withone of the one or more uplink grants indicating the second number ofdownlink assignments, said second cell being different from said firstcell.
 52. The method of claim 49, wherein: one or more of the generateduplink grants indicates a second number of downlink assignments by thenetwork node to the wireless device; and said first cell comprises thecell, selected from among the cells having uplink grants indicating thefirst or second number of downlink assignments, having a lowest orhighest cell index.
 53. The method of claim 49, wherein: one or more ofthe generated uplink grants indicates a second number of downlinkassignments by the network node to the wireless device; and said firstcell comprises the cell, selected from among the cells having uplinkgrants indicating the first or second number of downlink assignments,having a smallest or largest uplink channel resource allocation.
 54. Themethod of claim 49 wherein said first cell comprises one of the one ormore cells associated with the at least one received uplink grantindicating the first number of ACK/NACK bits.
 55. A network nodecomprising: processing circuitry configured to: generate an uplink grantfor each of one or more cells, wherein at least one of the generateduplink grants indicates a first number of downlink assignments by thenetwork node to the wireless device to indicate to the wireless device afirst number of acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) bitsto be transmitted to the network node; transmit each of the generateduplink grants to the wireless device; and receive uplink controlinformation via a first cell selected by the wireless device responsiveto the transmitted uplink grants, the first cell comprising one of thecells selected by the wireless device responsive to the at least onegenerated uplink grants indicating the first number of downlinkassignments, said uplink control information comprising the first numberof ACK/NACK bits; and power supply circuitry configured to supply powerto the wireless device.
 56. A non-transitory computer-readable mediumcomprising a computer program product for controlling a network node,the computer program product comprising software instructions which,when run on at least one processing circuit in the network node, causesthe network node to: generate an uplink grant for each of one or morecells, wherein at least one of the generated uplink grants indicates afirst number of downlink assignments by the network node to the wirelessdevice to indicate to the wireless device a first number ofacknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) bits to betransmitted to the network node; transmit each of the generated uplinkgrants to the wireless device; and receive uplink control informationvia a first cell selected by the wireless device responsive to thetransmitted uplink grants, the first cell comprising one of the cellsselected by the wireless device responsive to the at least one generateduplink grants indicating the first number of downlink assignments, saiduplink control information comprising the first number of ACK/NACK bits.57. A method, performed by a wireless device, of transmitting uplinkcontrol information, the method comprising: receiving, from a networknode, an uplink grant for each of one or more cells, wherein at leastone of the received uplink grants indicates a first number ofacknowledgement/non-acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) bits to be transmitted bythe wireless device to the network node; and transmitting uplink controlinformation via a first cell comprising one of the one or more cellsassociated with the at least one uplink grant indicating the firstnumber of ACK/NACK bits, said uplink control information comprising thefirst number of acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK)bits.
 58. A method, performed by a network node in communication with awireless device, of obtaining uplink control information, the methodcomprising: generating an uplink grant for each of one or more cells,wherein at least one of the generated uplink grants indicates a firstnumber of acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) bits to betransmitted by the wireless device to the network node; transmittingeach of the generated uplink grants to the wireless device; andreceiving uplink control information via a first cell comprising one ofthe cells associated with at least one of the generated uplink grantsindicating the first number of ACK/NACK bits, said uplink controlinformation comprising the first number of ACK/NACK bits.